Jacket for maternity dresses



Sept. 12, 1950 B. H. EAsoN JACKET Foa umzxmw nREssEs 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 4, 1946 Ewan gnomdoz 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Deo. 4, 1946 afvml'asom gnou/Moz Patented Sept. 12, 1950 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 2,522,023 JACKET FOB. MATERNITY DRESSES Barton H. Eason, McRae, Ga.

Application December 4, 1946, Serial No. 713,879

A2 Claims. (Cl. 2-108) This invention relates to a jacket i'or maternity dresses.

The primary object of the invention is to provide' a jacket of the type described in which all points of expandable adjustment are fully concealed beneath portions of the jacket that are not in themselves capable of expansion.

Dresses of this type commonly embody the use .of draw strings, overlapping fronts, or the like, `and it has been found by those skilled in the art that these often do not present an appearance as neat as desired. It isan object of the ,invention to provide a jacket for a maternity dress which, by reason of a novel panel construction, will always present a neat appearance and which may, in fact, be worn subsequently to pregnancy if desired by reason of its straight-line panel formation, that conceals all points of expandable adjustment.

It is a further important object to provide a jacket for a maternity dress which will include a belted non-expandable iront panel adapted to be dropped down over expandable portions of the garment, and adapted to conceal the points of expandable adjustment and also adapted to merge into the rest oi the garment so as to conceal the fact that the jacket includes said swinging panel.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the descrip-tion proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations oi' parts, hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims. it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of a maternity dress embodying the improved jacket constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a rear View.

Figure 3 is a front view, in which a panel front embodied in the invention is shown lifted away from the portions of the dress which it conceals while the jacket is being worn.

Figure 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

ure 3.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the character reference numeral 5 designates a wrap- 6 Figure 5 is a view taken on line 5-5 of Figmeans of suitable fasteners 6, of which there may be any desired number. The skirt is made, as may be seen by referring to Figure 4, to overlap as at 1, this being in the nature of a conventional maternity dress skirt design.

The dress further includes a jacket 8 that may be fastened at the front with suitable ties 9. and which is expandable by means of pleats Ill that are pressed into the jacket at the front adjacent the ties 9. By reference to Figure 4, it may be noted that additional pleats il are included at the back of the jacket 8, but these do not ordinarily serve any purpose beyond suitable ornamentation, although they may if necessary permit further expandable adjustment of the jacket.

Sewed to the jacket 8 at the shoulder seams i2 thereof are the upper edges of a front panel I3, to which there may be sewed an ornamental bow il and which is preferably provided with pleats i5. To this front panel i3 there are sewed the ends of a belt i6.

As is clearly shown by Figure 3, the front panel I3 slips over the head of the wearer and falls across the front of the jacket as a straight-line front, after whi-ch one of the free ends of the belt IB is passed around the back of the jacket 8, and both free belt ends tied adjacent the front panel i3, as at I1. It may, of course, be desired to make the portion of the belt I6 that passes around the jacket B longer than the other belt portion.

The pleats I5 in the front panel I3 are not intended to permit expansion of the iront panel. All expansion of the jacket 8, by reason of the novel design of my maternity dress, occurs in the jacket 8, in the portion thereof that is concealed behind the i'ront panel. The iront panel, therefore, is in the nature of an eective and novel disguise that conceals all the expansion adjustment points of the garment, and eliminates the necessity of draw strings, overlapping fronts, and the like, that are commonly used in maternity dresses.

Further, the front panel construction may be used in various types oi' maternity dresses, such as one-piece dresses, suits, dinner dresses, and others, with full eiectiveness, and without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

It is not intended to limit the invention to the 0 embodiment thereof that has been shown in the drawings and described herein, since this is only a preferred embodiment, in a two-piece dress.

It is further worthy oi note that a maternity dress made in accordance with my invention may around skirt that is adjustable as to its waist by be used without alteration throughout the entire 3 period of pregnancy, and can, if desired, even be used subsequently.

What is claimed is:

1. In a maternity dress a Jacket provided with shoulder seams and opening at its front along a line extending vertically and centrally thereof to provide separated front jacket portions, separable means adjustably connecting said separated portions, elongated straight pleats extending vertically of eaonfo! said portions and disposed close 'to and spaced from said line of separation, and a front cover panel on said jacket extending froml the shoulder seams thereof to the lower end of the jacket and overlying the front portions oi' the jacket, the upper end of said panel being disposed within and stitched into the shoulder seams of the jacket to provide a unitary jacket-andpanl construction unchanged in shoulder seam appearance from a jacket not having said panel, said panel having straight vertical side edges, yand belt sections cooperating to extend around the waist of a wearer and respectively connected 'to the front ,panel atlocations disposed on opposite sides ofthe center line and spaced from the side edges thereof, each belt section crossing over and being unconnected to a Side edge of said panel.

2. In a maternity dress a jacket provided with shoulder seams and opening at its front along a line extending vertically and centrally thereof to provide separated front portions, means spaced verticaily of said jacket .portions and each adapted to eiect a separate. independent adjustabre connection between said portions, elongated straight pleats extending vertically of each of said jacket portions and disposed close to and spaced from said line of separation, and a front cover panel on said jacket extending from the shoulder seams thereof to the lower end of the jacket and overlying said jacket portions, the opper end of said panel being disposed within and stitched into the shoulder seams of the jacket to provide a unitarif` jacket-andepanel construction unchanged in l0 -fsholdr deem appearance from a ifadketlnot hav- REFERENCES CITED The fdllowmg references are of record inthe 1tile of this patent:

STATES PATENTS Number Name Baite m2125685 Mahoney Aug. 14, 1945 12,-014l620 Hanley Sept. 1'7, 1935 25151444 Heister Aug. 18, 1936 2,141,814 Frankfurt Dec. 27, 1938 2326115562 Reno Nov. 4, 1941 2,394,111

Mevr-ick Dec. B, 1942 

